Since you people insisted on resurrecting this thread, I'll throw in a little neo-shamanist commentary based on the actions of the octopus in pieces o nine's link:

When people are lonely or hungry for love (or just hungry), their cats will bring them mice, snakes, etc as if trying to console and support them. I knew one witchy girl whose 22-pound (10kg) black burmese cat (named "Norton" as in "Emperor Norton," the Swarzenegger of local felines) literally brought home rabbits for them both to eat when she was particularly poor. My own former cat used to bring me all manner of life-forms to study, proudly displaying them as if saying, "Look what interesting thing I found!" (He didn't eat them and was disappointed if they died in the process, and he would take them back out after I congratulated him on his discovery.)

Here we have an octupus showing off the bounty of the sea to the poor tourists who were gaping at his glorious home. He treats them like beggars at the door of a medieval landlord. He is saying to them, "Life is rich and there is plenty to share, if only there weren't so many of you to divide the spoils among!" He is giving them a handout, or a bribe to be left in peace from their intrusion. Red is the color of passion and irritation among octopodes. He wants them to go back and tell others the truth of balance instead of bothering him with their beggary.

Obviously, this is an anthropomorphism, and an excuse to make homily, but it fits the situation. Octopodes have a neural/optical development equal or superior to humans in size and complexity, both in terms of total body percentage and cellular development. What secrets of the interconnectedness of life do they understand inherently that we have taught ourselves and our children to ignore? What they don't have is kings, wars, priests, soldiers, or corporations, so they are in some ways at our mercy -- much like many peaceful indigenous people and the general biotome in so many ways. If you can ask yourself one question as a result, maybe it is this: "Which one is truly, or morally, superior?" Octopodes have survived since the cambrian era, several hundred million years, in balance with their environment. How long can we last, out of balance with ours?

In case you didn't realize it, I DO have a sense of humor. How about you?"I will not fear. Fear is the mind-killer... I will face my fear. I will let it pass over and through me, and when it has gone, only I will remain." --The Bene Gesserit"Time is a spiral. Space is a curve. I know you get dizzy, but try not to lose your nerve." -- Neil Peart"I'm not in the ship. I am the ship." -- River Tam"The truth is simple. It's the lies that get complicated." -- me"No matter where you go, there you are." --Buckaroo Banzai